The World Apple and Pear Association (WAPA) has revised its topfruit production forecast for the European Union, revealing a notable further decrease in the expected volume of pears due to be available this season.
According to the revised data, EU pear production is now likely to be around 1.97m tonnes – significantly lower than the 2.06m tonnes first forecast at Prognosfruit in August and just over 25 per cent down on the 2.63m tonnes turned out in 2011.
Representing a 21 per cent decrease on the three-year average, the new forecast is one of the lowest EU pear crops on record and is even lower than the 2.08m produced in 1997, which was previously the smallest harvest of the past 18 years.
Of the major EU producers, WAPA noted pear production was set to fall year-on-year by 22 per cent to 717,000 tonnes in Italy, by 29 per cent to 329,000 tonnes in Spain, by 14 per cent to 255,000 tonnes in Belgium, by 30 per cent to 123,000 tonnes in France, by 38 per cent to 208,000 tonnes in the Netherlands and by 12 per cent to 329,000 tonnes in the UK.
This season's apple crop, meanwhile, is set to be slightly smaller than first forecast at 9.71m tonnes, 9 per cent lower than the 10.66m tonnes produced last year.
Italy, Europe's second-largest apple producer, should see production fall to 1.987m tonnes this season compared with 2.293 last time around.
